VIDEO: Book written by former Watervliet resident details history of paranormal activity at 19th Street property

Jill Marie Morris' book "207," provides a detailed history of a haunted apartment building which once stood on a portion of the Rite Aid Pharmacy's lot on 19th St. in Watervliet. (J.S. Carras/The Record)

WATERVLIET -- Not everyone is going to believe Jill Marie Morris' story of demonic possession and hauntings at her old apartment nor the reports that similar paranormal activity continues to this day on the property located near the intersection of 2nd Avenue and 19th Street.

Morris said she does not care if people believe her or not. She just wants to make sure a similar tragedy does not occur again.

It was in June of 1989 that her husband killed himself, just hours after pointing a 12-gauge shot gun at their 9-month-old son, at Jill Marie, and her mother. This was the culmination of months of strange behavior exhibited by her husband, which started when they moved into the apartment at 207 19th St. in Watervliet.

The house, as far as city records and Morris' research can tell, dates back to at least the 1850s, and possibly further back, to the 1830s.

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Her book, titled 207, which was published in July, provides a detailed history of the property, which she discovered after her husband's death, when the landlord said he could not believe these incidents were happening again. In its 180 pages, she recounts her experiences from when she lived there in the late 1980s, including a series of bad dreams, bad omens, and another suicide associated with the structure following her husband's death.

"What ever was in that house wanted me dead. And it wanted my son dead too," said Morris. She has since sought advice from local medium Ann Fisher, who said that she felt extreme negative energy in the house, some of the worst she's seen, when she examined it several years ago. She recommended that Morris never enter the house again.

Morris, who is originally from Brunswick and met her late husband at Tamarac High School, has taken it two steps further. She not only refuses to set foot on the property where 207 19th Street stood before it was demolished around the turn of the 21st century, but also will not go inside the Rite Aid Pharmacy which now stands on a portion of the property.

Morris even included information from two store employees who had seen and heard some paranormal activity in the book. One employee, who wanted to remain anonymous and has been there for a few years, said he regularly hears items falling, but upon inspection, finds nothing on the floor. He also said motion sensor alarms have been set off in the pharmacy's storage area where, again, no one was around.

Candace Fox of Watervliet, who has been a weekend cashier at Rite Aid for four years, said she first noticed the noises in July 2007. Since then, like clockwork, every July she and her co-workers hear something which sounds like a chair being dragged around the store but, again, no one is around.

"Summer is usually slower so I think we hear these things more. It's also mostly during the day and not always at night, though no customer has ever had any issues," she said, noting that she has also heard at least two voices, one male and one female.

Morris said she plans to donate a portion of proceeds from the book's sales to help the fight against suicide and domestic violence.

"If nothing else, I hope people can learn something about those issues from this book," she said. "And whether they believe that it was caused by demonic possession is up to them. But the words suicide and domestic violence were never part of my life, not until I moved there."

Morris, who now lives in Florida, will return to the Capital District to sign copies of 207 at the Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza on Aug. 27 at 3 p.m. She is currently conducting research for a sequel that will describe how her haunting experience may be related to an incident which took place at nearby St. Patrick's Church involving a former nun and priest.

"There have been questions about one of the members there who may have gotten involved in something that they should not have," she said as a teaser to the next book, which is expected to be out in Oct. 2012.